Is democracy being by-passed in favour of the billionaires?

Yes to your first question.

Labour are trying to bring in the changes to funding for all political parties.

Reform aren't even classed as a party but this has always gone unchallenged.

Time to start holding them to account. I hate to think it is too late.

Farage has successfully avoided questions about the very questionable funding, because he cancelled television appearances etc where he would have had to answer the questions.

However parliament returns this week and I fully expect this funding from an overseas billionaire to be looked at in depth.

Here’s a post I’ve just put on the ‘Andy Burnham’ thread, in response to a comment saying that all politicians should be treated the same (paraphrasing).

I’m re-posting my comment here because it’s relevant to this topic.

“When Keir Starmer was given a few pairs of glasses by a Labour Party donor - gifts which were declared - it was media headline news for days and days. It was apparently apocalyptic!

Fast forward to Nigel Farage’s secret, undeclared gift of £5 million from a Thailand based crypto guy … hardly a mention🤔 Even though Farage promotes cryptocurrency; says he’ll deregulate it ‘when’ he’s PM; and even promoted his donor’s crypto company Tether, in radio interviews.

Farage refused point blank to answer any questions about it in an interview with Beth Rigby the other day - she just accepted that and moved on to his agenda.

When Rigby asked Keir Starmer about glasses etc she was like a rabid dog with a bone. She would not let it drop, to the point of embarrassing herself.

Level playing field? I don’t think so!”

This dirty money is overriding our democracy, and the media (main stream and social) is complicit.

When a billionaire bankrolls a political party or politician, he always does so because he considers it to be in his interest.

There is nothing altruistic about Harbourne.

This is a huge problem. Why is a Thai billionaire giving huge amounts of money to Farage and Reform? This is blatant interference in our politics.
I find this very sinister.

Absolutely WWM2, the state of British media is scandalous, even the once reliable BBC is shamefully manipulative.

I came across this recently, I was surprised but thought it looked hopeful.

mediasovereignty.org/petition/

We only need to look at Orban’s Hungary to see how, when a grifter gains power, democracy will be sold to the highest bidder.

Fortunately for the people of Hungary, democracy eventually regained its power … but it took 16 long years, during which time the lives of many people were decimated (not the rich of course).

Is that what we’re heading towards here😢

Harborne donated £10 million to the Brexit Party and has donated £12 million to Reform.

So the man who donated £22 million to what is essentially the same company, despite it's convoluted filing history, has also bunged the director another £5 million which he failed to declare in the Members' Register.

I am just hoping that Parlimentary Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg shows some teeth this time and suspends Farage long enough to trigger a recall and a by-election.

Meantime, where is the money? Farage claims it's to pay for his security "for the rest of his life" in which case it must be in a ring-fenced account which HMRC will be keen to look at not least to see if any of it was used to buy the house in Essex in his girlfriend's name.

The wider and imore mportant issue is of course cash for access and favours which we know Harborne had from Johnson.

LizzieDrip

Here’s a post I’ve just put on the ‘Andy Burnham’ thread, in response to a comment saying that all politicians should be treated the same (paraphrasing).

I’m re-posting my comment here because it’s relevant to this topic.

“When Keir Starmer was given a few pairs of glasses by a Labour Party donor - gifts which were declared - it was media headline news for days and days. It was apparently apocalyptic!

Fast forward to Nigel Farage’s secret, undeclared gift of £5 million from a Thailand based crypto guy … hardly a mention🤔 Even though Farage promotes cryptocurrency; says he’ll deregulate it ‘when’ he’s PM; and even promoted his donor’s crypto company Tether, in radio interviews.

Farage refused point blank to answer any questions about it in an interview with Beth Rigby the other day - she just accepted that and moved on to his agenda.

When Rigby asked Keir Starmer about glasses etc she was like a rabid dog with a bone. She would not let it drop, to the point of embarrassing herself.

Level playing field? I don’t think so!”

This dirty money is overriding our democracy, and the media (main stream and social) is complicit.

👏 👏

Richard Tice has just spoken with Laura Keunsburg who challenged him about both offensive on line comments of some of newly elected councillors and the £5 million sum Farage received from Harborne, a Reform UK multi million 3 donor. He refused to answer direct questions, like do you consider it offensive to post- Nigerians should be melted down to fill potholes- etc.

Instead Tice took the position that the problem is actually a smear campaign, ie the voters can see that the media constantly seeks to SMEAR Reform and Farage. His position was repeated several times along the lines of: - "you and the media carry on smearing Nigel and Reform UK but it's not working. The voters know all that and still voted for Reform and want Nigel as their PM".

This thread makes me want to weep and rage with feeling helpless, it is at least good to know that others are aware of the state of our media, please someone have a look at the link I shared above, it appears to be a useful attempt to do something......

mediasovereignty.org/why/

Harborne wants the UK to become a major crypto hub with the help of Farage and Reform. He has already donated 22 million to the Brexit leave campaign and now to Farage.
The Reform voters are helping him achieve this unknowingly I would think.

I hope our MSM takes up the challenge of asking valid questions about Reform finances.

My fear is that it’s now too late.

Reform’s set-up as a company hasn’t been investigated or challenged … and now it’s embedded.

People know what and who Farage is, yet they still vote for him. I believe many like the fact that he’s a grifter.

I feel despondent about my country … not for me but for my grandchildren.

On the night Orban lost the election in Hungary, young people were crying tears of joy and shouting “Thank God, I’ve got my future back”. I don’t want that to be my grandchildren in 16 years time😢

Tice’s answer to most things is to claim it’s a smear campaign. He says the same about his own dodgy tax affairs.

The fact is there was in induction process for new MPs which Farage should have taken part in. Had he done so he would have known that the £5 million needed to be declared. If in doubt he could have asked Daniel Greenberg who is to not only the Commissioner but also a lawyer.

The words in the invitation letter from Greenberg are clear:

www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/pcfs/advice-notes/parliamentary-commissioner-for-standards---members-induction-pack-2024.pdf

The main purpose of the Register is to provide information about any financial interest which a Member has, or any benefit which he or she receives, which others might reasonably consider to influence his or her actions or words as a Member of Parliament.

Someone has already donated £10 to your previous political party (the Brexit Party) and they now give you another £5 million which prompts you to stand for Parliament when you said you weren’t going to. What other construction could be put on it particularly when it is known that a former Prime Minister gave that same donor access for cash?

I think you're right about people liking Farage because he's a grifter. Some people always seem to admire the "bad guy" who rebels against the "establishment". I guess it gives them an excuse to behave in the same way.

No, its being passed by, by the left who think they know better than us how we want to live and their power hungry leaders, like Starmer, who will not go even though they have been proved incompetent and the majority want them to go. Surprising what Starmer has in common with Trump!

Of course billionaires ahave power and use it, but do not underestimate the power of those who believe that they know what is best for us.

And remember both extremes, Left and Right are united in their anti-semitism.

I would dispute that Starmer belongs to "the left".

I doubt very much if it would be possible to get any genuine majority to agree on a single leader (at the moment in the UK), so Starmer might as well stay.

There are more people against Farage than for him.

twaddle

I think you're right about people liking Farage because he's a grifter. Some people always seem to admire the "bad guy" who rebels against the "establishment". I guess it gives them an excuse to behave in the same way.

I agree twaddle and yet, he’s scamming his own supporters with this faux ‘jack the lad’ persona.

He pretends to be anti-establishment yet he’s actually establishment through and through.

Total scammer!

What is worrying me is that it appears that the political party is the face, but the bank roller is the real power and influencer - that has zero to do with democracy.

That really worries me too WW.

I just wonder if enough people in this country care about it though!

Were Reform ever to win a General Election, democracy would certainly be bypassed in favour of the millionaires and billionaires because Farage has made no secret that he would bring in many unelected people to govern.

We all know that Farage’s political beard, the unelected multi-millionaire Yusuf, who bought his way into the party and is now “shadow” home secretary, is trotted out at every opportunity to speak for the party and to defend Farage.

Unless Yusuf were to stand in a GE and be elected, were he to become Home Secretary he would not be allowed to enter the House of Commons so he would not be able to make statements or take and answer questions from other MPs. Where’s the democracy in that?

With the party’s inability to attract candidates of any calibre and no experienced people to call on (Braverman, Jenrick (and Kruger) are all predicted to lose their seats in a GE), Farage would fill his Cabinet and other ministerial positions (149 of them) with his wealthy friends. Parliament would become an oligarchy overnight.

OMG Graphite you’ve just described my worst nightmare in clear, stark reality😱

The good people of the UK must not let this happen to our glorious country.

I wonder if those who voted Reform realised they were voting for a billionaire business man in Thai who certainly doesn't have the welfare of British citizens at heart.